How to Make SmartArt Charts in Office 2011 for Mac

Charts take data, organize them, and present them in a visual form. Office 2011 for Mac offers two different approaches for making organization charts: The newer SmartArt method can produce visually appealing charts, and the application called Microsoft Organization Chart creates embedded charts.

When you click the SmartArt tab on the Ribbon, the leftmost group is Insert SmartArt Graphic. Here you find several buttons that represent various types of SmartArt graphics. The SmartArt Hierarchy group has three different organization charts from which to choose:

Organization Chart

Name and Title Organization Chart

Half Circle Organization Chart

These are the first three options available in the Hierarchy gallery. You can use all the features of SmartArt with these organization charts. But when you select an object in a SmartArt organization chart, notice that the Org option becomes available in the Edit SmartArt group.

To use these features, first select the position at the top of the organization chart's hierarchy and then select one of the following from the Org menu:

Horizontal: Arranges the chart in horizontal style.

Vertical: Arranges the chart in a vertical style.

Left hanging: Arranges position boxes to the left of the centerline.

Right hanging: Arranges position boxes to the right of the centerline.

Add Assistant: To add an assistant to a position, first, select a position within the SmartArt organization chart's hierarchy. Then, choose Add Assistant from the Org menu in the Edit SmartArt grouping.